A handsome tree with a wide-spreading, rounded crown, and bright red, nectar-filled flowers in spring and early summer that attract many birds and insects; it is easy to grow and makes a good shade tree or specimen tree.
Schotia brachypetala is a handsome, medium to large tree with a wide-spreading, densely branched, rounded crown. It has a single trunk that sometimes branches low down. The flowers are rich deep red, and are produced in masses, in dense branched heads on the old wood during spring (Aug.-Nov.). The flowering time is somewhat irregular in that a tree in bloom may be a few metres away from one that has no sign of flowers. This irregularity is of value to the nectar feeding birds, and ensures a longer feeding season.
The fruit is a hard, flattened, woody, dark brown pod containing flattened, pale brown approx. 20 mm diameter seeds with a conspicuous yellow aril. The pods split on the tree, maturing during late summer to autumn (Feb.-May).
Schotia brachypetala occurs in warm dry areas in bushveld, deciduous woodland and scrub forest most often on the banks of rivers and streams or on old termite mounds at lower altitudes from around Umtata in the Eastern Cape, through KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga, Northern Province and into Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
